Friday, January 04, 2008

Police in the historic Polish city of Krakow have arrested a gang of muggers who targeted tipsy foreign tourists for late night attacks in the popular weekend destination, authorities said.

“Typically one of the muggers would approach a drunk tourist going to their hotel late at night and ask for the time,” Krakow regional press officer Dariusz Nowak told AFP. “If it turned out to be a foreigner, gang members would follow him and then attack using tear gas.”

The muggers stole cash and valuables but made sure their victims retained their identity documents in the hope that they would not report the attacks to police, Nowak said.

“Some of the victims were drunk to the point they weren’t entirely certain whether they’d been mugged,” he said.

Around 20 attacks were reported to police over the last three months. The muggers were finally caught after special plain-clothes officers were stationed on Krakow’s scenic mediaeval central market square near which most muggings took place.Officers managed to catch two muggers red-handed during an attack on a 62-year-old US citizen. A third was detained later.

The majority of victims were British. Budget flights from Britain have made Krakow in southern Poland a popular spot for short breaks, especially for groups of young men on stag nights.

The muggers, aged 31 to 34, face up to 12 years behind bars for assault using tear gas.

BEING HAD-
The BEING HAD Weblog project was created for the purposes of making a public forum for a case falsely made against me by a corrupt Polish judicial system in 2002 (Please see: The Case). For the better part of a whole year I was not allowed to leave Poland and during that time I suffered endless damages to my name and to business. To this day I am still trying to get Poland to acknowledge what they did, and hence, this blog as well as all of the pages of Being Had continues on. Being Had greatly needs your financial contributions though, both to keep going and to pay for legal and administrative fees involved in the case. Being Had also accepts advertising, offers investment opportunities and page sponsorships as well. If you would like more information about BEING HAD click HERE. You can also write to me at:

About Me

I am an American and have been living in Belarus (Poland not withstanding)for a bit more than five years. I am a writer, having completed so far one book (Being Had), many articles and essays, an ongoing Blog and 11 plays for theatre (including Pod Kablukom, a play in Belarusian, Russian and English languages). I am a lifetime bicyclist and a supporter of global ecology. While in Belarus I have worked as a teacher of English and an editor of Russian/English translations. I have also worked in support of the school bike racing team here in Pinsk. To learn more about the BEING HAD web project, please click HERE

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